The capacity of your throughput is equal to the capacity of your bottlenecks. Your personal productivity has two aspects: capacity and throughput. You need them both, but they aren’t identical. And when it comes to effective productivity, one is more important than the other. Your capacity Think of capacity and throughput [...]
Your Unscheduled Task list is your mind’s secret weapon! Your mind can be a messy place when you’re trying to find better productivity. So many things to do! Just keeping track of everything is like a tornado swirling in your head. The winds are whipping… cows flying by… you can’t get a good grip on [...]
Look, we’re on your side with this one: life is filled with so many things that you just flat out don’t want to do. Maybe it’s because they’re unpleasant, maybe you’re just mentally exhausted and stressed, or maybe it’s just that your bed is feeling super comfortable right now!Unfortunately, to get anything done in life, [...]
Weekends are like rainbows—they look great from a distance, but once you get up close to them, they start to disappear. Do your weekends fly by too fast? Do you sleep until you’re hungry then eat until you’re sleepy? Or, are you hoping to craft a weekend that’s memorable, relaxing, and productive? Here are some [...]
When you’re in the daily battle of getting things done on your task list—are you being efficient, or being effective? The last thing you probably want right now is a vocabulary lesson—but there’s only two words, and learning the difference between efficient and effective will actually increase your overall productivity. Being efficient Efficiency is how [...]
In his classic poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost talks about how the road he was walking on while in the woods separated into two roads leading in different directions. He had to decide which of the two he would take. By taking the one less traveled, his life was changed. Frost’s point was [...]
A recent study found that employees are 22% more productive when they are happy than when they are unhappy. Now I know what you're thinking, well duh! However as obvious as it may seem we often don't act on this seemingly common knowledge. Sometimes we mentally put a barrier between our various tasks and happiness. [...]
Spicing up your meetings isn't complicated. Here's an idea you "knead." What does having a meeting and having a pizza have in common? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calls it the “two pizza rule.” And it's simple: Bezos says that the more people you pack into the meeting, the less productive the meeting will likely be. The [...]
Every accomplishment starts with a decision, in fact, living is the constant process of deciding what to do. Decision making and productivity go hand-in-hand. Have you ever noticed when you go out to eat with your friends or family that often the hardest part is simply deciding where to go--and when you get there, deciding [...]
If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your task list or appointment calendar, it may be time for a productivity renovation. Have you ever renovated your home or at least watched one of the many TV series about renovating? Often we'll launch these massive renovations when we find that our homes have been damaged [...]
Once, an old farmer was known around town for being exceptionally good at making sure the furrows in his field were absolutely straight. One day, a young man asked the farmer to tell him his secret. The old farmer quietly explained that, while plowing each row, he picked some sort of object, like a tree, [...]
Deadlines can help you increase your overall productivity. In the comic series “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson, Calvin once says “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet, you have to be in the right mood.” When asked what this magic mood is that facilitates creativity he replies “last minute panic!” Now to [...]
